Accelerated Adolescence

Rae's Visit: Blueberry Pancakes Every Day

Rachael is out for the weekend and we've been having a lot of fun. Well, I've been having a lot of fun, anyway. I hope that everyone else has been. Rae came in on Thursday morning and I learned how to use the CTA train and took it down to Midway to pick her up and come back. I took the morning off work (as I couldn't get out of the afternoon staff meeting) and we chilled, had some tea and pancakes, and I got the Settlers of Catan in the mail. Then it was off to work. Rae took a nap because she was exhausted. The evening was pretty relaxed. We went to the store and bought some ingredients for pizza, made pizza, and then made sleeping noises until Friday morning.

On Friday, work was hosting an all day art festival for our members. The members invited friends and family and one spaced out high girl wandered in accidentally. Rae joined us for the festival and got to meet and chat up some of our members. I think that it would be an excellent field trip for anyone to make to go and visit a clubhouse. Just like living abroad, it shatters stereotypes and breaks down fear of the unknown. Friday night, Andrew came over and we failed to finish a game of Nippon Rails that Rae was probably going to win, anyways. Instead, we watched the 40 year old virgin. It was hilarious.... there is nothing I can say about it to convince anyone that it was as good as it was. After all, it is titled, "The 40 Year Old Virgin."

Yesterday (Saturday), was full of excitement. We woke up at about 7:00 and went up to the YMCA to play racquetball and go swimming. Then, we took the train downtown (i.e. to downtown Chicago) to go to the Field Museum. I really would like to make it to the field museum but the lines were long and more than one of us had to go to the bathroom. So, we left and wandered through Grant park, home of Millenium Park, in search of something to munch on. While we wandered through, we came across large globes with the shapes of the continents on them. Each globe had been designed differently by artists suggesting different ways to reduce the impact that mankind is having on the warming of the planet. Some of the globes had quotes on them or paid homage to those people who have worked hard to improve the environment. Other globes made specific points. Perhaps the most memorable was the two faced globe. On one side, amidst contemporary practices, the planet looked wan and sweaty. On the other side, the face on the planet looked cool and refreshed. Still, other globes advocated pushing for more and better technology. one globe had a "sweater" on it (suggesting that we should turn off the AC and turn down the thermostat in the winter). It was fun and fascinating.

After making use of a port-o-loo we walked up to the Bean and I took a picture of Rae with the Bean. R.T. Bean with Arty Bean.... I crack myself up! We stopped off at Moonstruck, a Chicago chocolatier and had some of their chocolate (it wasn't as good as I remembered it being). We called it a day, and headed out for the train. Walked underneath the city on strange subterranean roads, had an interesting encounter with a homeless man, and finally found our way back to a train station.

When we got home we made dinner. Macaroni and cheese with steamed broccoli and hot dogs on the side! It was hilarious. Especially, at the grocery store, Rae and I wandered around frustrated that we were having so much difficulty finding franks that met our standards (we ended up settling on Johnsonville hotdogs... not as good as we would have liked, we were looking for the real thing. you know, beef or pork stuffed into intestines). Now that we're all grown up, we still like the food of our childhood but we demand that it actually taste good (I made medium shells and covered them in a cream, cheddar, and parmesian cheese sauce, you get the idea).

Even though we were exhausted, we even managed to play a game of Settlers of Catan before being so exhausted from playing, working out, and walking all day in the sun. Kristen, of course, soundly defeated both myself and Rachael (you'd think she'd like playing games more often, considering what her winning percentage is!)

And, now, here we are, chilling on Sunday. Thinking about going to see a show, a real show, with marionettes!!! And it's free:) If you come out before August 19th we can take you to the show, too. Maybe we'll play a game, maybe we'll stop off at a picnic some of our friends are going to. There's a lot of stuff that we can do, today. But for now, Rae and Kristen are off to do some window shopping and I'm going to chill here for a little bit.